NS/IOC/INF-16 (Continued) 



Coastal and Island Stations 



A large number of stations are presently being maintained 

 at coastal and some island locations for the recording of sea 

 level (tides) and a few for long-period wave records. At most 

 of these there are taken records, at least daily, of surface 

 temperature and salinity. During the IGY, there were also 

 taken near a number of such stations, especially at oceanic 

 islands, shallow casts for temperature and salinity, at daily 

 and weekly intervals, for computing steric sea level. 



It appears most desirable to increase the number of such 

 stations, especially on off-shore oceanic islands and at them 

 to obtain not only sea level, temperature, and salinity 

 observations, but also to obtain meteorological data, data on 

 chemical constituents of the ocean at various depths, solar 

 radiation and simple biological observations, 



A network of island stations can be a very important part 

 of a program of detailed research and survey in an ocean area. 

 Such a network is an integral part of the EPOC plan for a 

 cooperative study of the Eastern Tropical Pacific, and is a 

 part of the plan for the Indian Ocean Expedition. In the 

 tropical Atlantic there exist a series of oceanic island which 

 could be similarly employed in that region. 



Ocean Station Vessels (Weather Ships) 



These platforms, operating at fixed points in the open sea 

 for weather observations and air-sea rescue, under the auspices 

 of ICAO and other agencies offer a magnificent, but largely 

 unused, opportunity for obtaining time-series data on physical, 

 chemical, and biological parameters both at the surface and at 

 various depths. To take advantage of this opportunity, all 

 such ships should be provided with suitable oceanographic 

 winches and other oceanographic equipment, and with a small 

 team of oceanographic observers. Supplementary meteorological 

 observation of special interest to oceanography may be added to 

 the present routine weather observation in consultation with 

 interested specialists. 



It is also possible to employ a local network of anchored 

 instrument buoys in connection with a weather ship, the data 

 being gathered by the ship by the removal of data records or 

 by telemetering to obtain time-series at a number of points 

 simultaneously. 



Weather vessels can also be of great value in obtaining 

 repeated hydrographic and biological sections when traveling 

 their stations and their home ports. 



